Great Books

Can all of humanity’s greatest thinking fit in 100 books?

There’s a common adage frequently said: “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

I wonder if that adage applies to books too. Except not just 5 books but 100 books. And not just 100 random books but 100 books from humanity’s wisest and clearest thinkers.

These are foundational books: understood correctly, you can’t go back to your old thinking—you have no choice but to see reality, or as close to reality as possible. Musashi said it best: “If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”

These books give you a firm foundation for understanding everything. Surprisingly, you wouldn’t need to memorize everything written in these books because the authors built on a firm foundation. Good explanations stand on its own. No memorization required.

Is this list biased? Yes. If you’re not interested at the intersection of life, philosophy, and hard sciences, pick five random books from this list—and you’ll become interested.

Read enough books to fill in the gaps other books don’t cover. This list is exactly that: the interweaving of many topics—what one book didn’t cover, other books will.

Scan the list, and pick anything your eyes snag.

In random order:

…81 more coming soon…